Streamlining the Internet of Things and other cyber-physical systems

IMAGE: Shiyan Hu of Michigan Tech studies cybersecurity and how it impacts cyber-physical systems like smart grids and self-driving cars. view more

Credit: Michigan Tech, Sarah Bird

Link: www.eurekalert.org 3-Jan-2017 Sometimes referred to as the Internet of Things, cyber-physical systems vary from phones to self-driving cars, from airplane controls to home energy meters. They are both touchable objects and invisible code. However, as streamlined as cyber-physical systems appear, the technology developed within manufacturing systems that were not designed to accommodate it.

To change that, researchers banded together from Michigan Technological University, Boston University, University of California, Berkeley, and University of California, Riverside. Their latest work, a keynote paper published in IEEE Transactions in CAD, lays the groundwork for better design in cyber-physical systems.

"The register-transfer-level (RTL) design flow for digital circuits is one of the major success stories in electronic design automation," the authors write. "Will a durable design methodology, such as the RTL design flow, emerge for cyber-physical systems?"